


an act of humanity

by arochill



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Character Study, Technoblade-centric, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:34:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27367384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arochill/pseuds/arochill
Summary: Technoblade was as human as they came. He worked hard for his own power — he did not need the help of a god he would never meet. It didn’t matter that his veins ran red, not gold.It didn’t matter what colour the blood was. It called for him all the same.
Comments: 49
Kudos: 515





	an act of humanity

There was a time, once, when his hair had been brown and he had needed glasses to see out of. Fighting battles always came at a cost back then, and his body was covered in scars and wounds and bruises almost constantly. He wasn’t the strongest — that right belonged to others much older than him. It belonged to those with magic that flowed through their veins as they prayed to gods that they would never see. It belonged to those with enchanted swords that could never break, those that were no longer fully human.

In a world like this one, being human was not something to be proud of.

Techno knew what it felt like to bleed.

Techno was as human as they came.

Techno wasn’t  _ weak.  _ Not in the same way that some were. He could get hurt, that was true. But even in the hardest of fights, he wouldn’t die.

He couldn’t say the same for other humans.

(He had watched many –  _ too many  _ – fall to the power of magic users. He could never forget.)

Technoblade had never wanted to follow in the footsteps of those stronger than him. He knew that devoting his life to a god he would never speak to just wasn’t something he was able to do. No matter the power he could gain, he wasn’t that kind of person.

He would reach that level on his own. He didn’t need a  _ god  _ to be powerful.

When Techno met Phil, it was the very first time he met someone with power that, like himself, he did not take from the gods.

Perhaps that was the reason Techno, who preferred to be alone, was able to become such good friends with the older man.

Phil was kind. He wrapped bandages around Techno’s hands, he helped brush his untameable brown hair. He made sure that Techno did not leave his glasses behind when he went into town. He laughed at jokes Techno made that no one else would have.

He watched the man fly with wings that were forged of steel, and wondered if Phil realised just how incredible he was. Techno wasn’t scared of Phil. He was scared of what the man would do if a god offered him a choice. He was scared that Phil would leave him if he was given more power.

_ You want that power for yourself, don’t you? _

_ Green isn’t a good look on you, Technoblade. _

There was a time, once, when fighting was easiest with his fists. Swords were expensive, and even with the large amount of bounties that Techno took in, he didn’t have the money for one — especially not a sword that was black and sharp and shining with a god's enchantments. He was only human, after all.

He made a name for himself.

They called him crazy.

(They called him weak.)

When Techno met Wilbur, he met the first – and perhaps  _ only  _ – person that prayed to the gods and didn’t receive power in return. Instead, he received  _ knowledge. _ And in some ways that made him the most powerful of all.

(He would never tell Wilbur that. He wasn’t stupid.)

Wilbur, of all the people that Techno knew, was perhaps the scariest. He wasn’t physically strong. Techno knew he’d be able to take the other man down with ease. But Wilbur could take him down with only words, and that was terrifying.

Wilbur’s God was strange. They did not ask for tributes, they did not ask for a church for worship, they did not ask…  _ anything  _ of Wilbur. Wilbur told him one day that when he was younger, he heard a voice in his head. Within the same day, all he knew changed.

Techno was never able to get Wilbur to tell him what his God said to him that day.

Wilbur was Techno’s friend. His best friend, his  _ brother.  _ Techno trusted Wilbur with his life in the same way he didn’t trust him at all. The things that Wilbur knew were impossible. Phil told him to be careful, even when he took Wilbur under his wings.

Techno bled red in a way that those with magic did not. Phil bled red in that same way.

The smiles, the  _ smirks _ that Wilbur gave him were inhuman in a way that sent a shiver down Techno’s spine.

Humanity is a difficult thing.

_ What would you sacrifice for more power? _

_ How many times have you lost, now, Technoblade? _

Techno understood that, no matter how hard he fought to get the top, he would never be able to reach it. He could act arrogant all he wanted but he knew that it was  _ physically impossible  _ no matter what he did.

He wasn’t an idiot.

Techno fought tooth and nail to keep himself alive in a world full of those more powerful than he was. He had seen more than enough blood in his life. Phil told him to stop getting into fights, Phil was scared that one day he’d fight someone stronger than himself. Phil knew that Techno would never stop.

(Maybe that was the reason Phil left. Maybe Phil didn’t want to watch him die.)

Tommy called him an idiot.

Tommy held a crossbow in hand that shone with godly power, and the smirk on his face was reminiscent of Wilbur’s. Tommy was young, and powerful, and he was not afraid to flaunt it.

Tommy looked up to him — Techno couldn’t understand why.

Tommy, by all reason, should be stronger than he was.

Techno was not afraid of him.

Techno’s hands were stained with blood – both red and gold, and neither were something he could ever remove.

There was a time when the voice in Techno’s head was quiet. There was a time when Techno could ignore the call of blood in the veins of everyone he met. There was a time when he had been strong because he had worked for it, and not because of the power that ran through him.

_ Blood for the Blood God. _

_ Do you hear the call for blood, Technoblade? _

_ Don’t ignore me. _

His blood ran red, as it always had.

This would never change.

He hadn’t worn his glasses in months now. Techno was sure that Phil had them. He didn’t mind.

(His eyes burned red. They were a mirror image of the blood that he was so used to seeing now.)

Techno fought for himself. This would never change. He would never pledge himself under the name of a god that he would never meet. He would not change his beliefs for more power.

Phil worried that Techno would lose himself because of this. Phil worried that Techno would eventually fall, as most do, to the call of magic and power.

It had been a long time since he last saw Phil.

Wilbur spoke of things that Techno would never understand. He spoke of the rise and fall of societies, as if he didn’t already know that Techno had been at the epicentre of so much of it.

Techno didn’t trust Wilbur.

(Wilbur did not trust him.)

Tommy looked at Techno, and made a joke about the tusks he was growing making him look like a pig. That the pink hair did not help. The crossbow Tommy held was loaded, and the blood that ran through his veins was golden, and Techno ran a hand over his tusks and left without a word.

Tommy didn’t understand the power that he wielded.

_ They do not understand you. _

_ You are so much stronger than they are. _

_ Show them what it feels like to bleed, Technoblade. _

Techno knew what it was like to be human.

Techno knew what it felt like to bleed.

They did not think he was strong.

There was a time, once, when Techno still remembered his own humanity.

How much would you sacrifice for power?

_ Will you take my offer, Technoblade? _

_ Will you take my power? _

Techno didn’t fight with his fists anymore.

Swords were much more efficient in making others bleed, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> i don’t know where this came from. just a little idea i had that ended up turning into – this, i guess.
> 
> i hope you enjoyed, at the very least! thank you for reading.


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